A Harvest of Thorns ~ Review

A Harvest of Thorns
By Corban Addison

A tragic loss of life half-way around the world is about to alter their lives in ways they never imagined. But when a chance photo in the aftermath of a factory fire in Bangladesh implicates American Presto Omnishops Corporation corporate heads will role unless the damage can be contained and quickly.

Tasked with determining Presto's ties and potential liabilities to the foreign factory is Cameron Alexander. His search for the truth will lead him into the heart of the beast - third world subcontracted manufacturing. But can he cut through the layered web of lies and the fearful silences that control all? What Cameron discovers is worse than he could have ever imagined.

Change must come but timing is everything when it comes to the corporate world. With stockholders and consumers to keep happy the time for change may never come for Presto - until Joshua Griswold comes across information that leads him to Presto's dirty not so little secret. But can he wield his knowledge as a sword to protect the downtrodden worker?

Like his previous book Tears of Dark Water Corban Addison creates a story that forces the reader to confront hidden, ugly secrets that will break the heart of most. And the sad part is - this is not a product of his imagination but rather the by-product of an industry that has made the dollar its GOD. Standards, codes of conduct, safety measures are meant to be ignored if the bottom line is on the line and when multinational factors are involved these are easily overlooked. And yet if one truly cares this would be the most grievous sin imaginable.

This book is disturbing and haunting and one that will stay with you long after you put it down, I think the following quote from the book sums it up quite perfectly "Unfortunately, this is often the way the world works. This kind of truth is ugly and painful and inconvenient. It doesn't help people pay their bills, or care for their kids, or get a better job, or go on a nice vacation. But the truth is essential....  Across history, the powerful have enriched themselves by exploiting the poor. The only power greater than theirs is the law." (page 228).

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher Thomas Nelson with no expectation of a review positive or otherwise. All opinions expressed are my own.


About the Book:

A beloved American corporation with an explosive secret.

A disgraced former journalist looking for redemption.

A corporate executive with nothing left to lose.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a garment factory burns to the ground, claiming the lives of hundreds of workers, mostly young women. Amid the rubble, a bystander captures a heart-stopping photograph—a teenage girl lying in the dirt, her body broken by a multi-story fall, and over her mouth a mask of fabric bearing the label of one of America’s largest retailers, Presto Omnishops Corporation.

Eight thousand miles away at Presto’s headquarters in Virginia, Cameron Alexander, the company’s long-time general counsel, watches the media coverage in horror, wondering if the damage can be contained. When the photo goes viral, fanning the flames of a decades old controversy about sweatshops, labor rights, and the ethics of globalization, he launches an investigation into the disaster that will reach further than he could ever imagine—and threaten everything he has left in the world.

A year later in Washington DC, Joshua Griswold, a disgraced former journalist from the Washington Post, receives an anonymous summons from a corporate whistleblower who offers him confidential information about Presto and the fire. For Griswold, the challenge of exposing Presto’s culpability is irresistible, as is the chance, however slight, at redemption. Deploying his old journalistic skills, he builds a historic case against Presto, setting the stage for a war in the courtroom and in the media that Griswold is determined to win—both to salvage his reputation and to provoke a revolution in Presto’s boardroom that could transform the fashion industry across the globe.

“This exposé of the underbelly of the international fashion industry is disturbing, moving, and thoroughly engrossing.” —PHILLIP MARGOLIN, New York Times bestselling author of Violent Crimes.